9:1-171 The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.
2 And Hamath also shall border thereby; Tyrus, and Zidon, though it be very wise.
This is the burden of the word of God.
3 And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
5 Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
God will cast out and burn Tyrus.
6 And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
A bastard will live in Ashdod.
7 And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.
I [God] will take blood out of his mouth, and abominations from between his teeth.
8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.
I will camp near my house.
No oppressor will come near, [1]
because I will see them with my own eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
Be glad and shout, people of Jerusalem,
because your king comes to you,
humble and riding on a young donkey. [2]
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
11 As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
He will rule over the whole world.
14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
God will be seen over them, and his arrow will fly like lightning.
He will blow a trumpet, and go with whirlwinds to the south. [3]
15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.
16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
God will defend the people,
who will drink wine and make noise. [4]
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.
Wine will make the young women cheerful.
Israel shall never again be oppressed.
Another obviously false prophecy; Israel has been occupied many times since the time of Zechariah.
The gospels (especially Mt 21:4-5 and Jn 12:14-15) claim that Jesus fulfils this prophecy. But the next few verses (9:10-13) show that the person referred to in this verse is a military king that would rule "from sea to sea." Since Jesus had neither an army or a kingdom, he could not have fulfilled this prophecy.
But that didn't stop the gospel authors from applying this prophecy to Jesus. They searched for prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures, and then claimed that Jesus fulfilled them. The author of Matthew's gospel got a bit carried away with this one, though; he had Jesus riding on two donkeys, since he misunderstood the Hebrew poetry in Zechariah 9:9.
Matthew 21:4 says, "All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet." And he might be right about that. If Jesus really did ride into town on a donkey (or two donkeys), then he probably did it so that he would "fulfil" the prophecy in Zechariah. It's easy to fulfil a prophecy if you set your mind to it.
Someday we'll see God flying over us with his lightning-like arrows. He'll be blowing his trumpet and sending whirlwinds down south.
New wine for the maids (v.17)
